|
Scientific
and genetic studies prove that the Khoi-San people where the
first modern humans in the Western Cape of South Africa (as a territory
of origin).
They have probably lived in south Africa for 10,000 years; they were decimated
by white settlers brought in by the dutch VOC and by diseases introduced
into the subcontinent and hinterland. However, if approximately 99% of
Khoi-San language, traditions and culture have been forcibly and brutally
removed, the history and genetics still remain.
Khoi-San were nomadic hunters and gatherers. The colonial Europeans called
the San "Bushmen" or "Hottentots". In dutch : "Bosjesmannen"
and "Hottentotten" . The dutch also called them "Strandlopers"
( beach walkers) because probably the first confrontation must have taken
place somewhere on the beaches around the Cape.
The San and the Khoi Khoi of the Capetown area together make up a people
who are physically very different from the Bantu Africans who have dominated
the continent elsewhere . The Bantu probably came in much more recently,
as military conqueers, in the last 1000 years.
The San are physically small, five feet and less; they and the also racially
distinctive Khoi Khoi speak a unique set of languages, "Khoi",
the one with all the clicks.
Their language had more consonants compared to the Bantu languages which
had a prolific use of vowels.
|
|